>Just a quick update to put down some thoughts about Leila’s First Christmas…Everything went really well. Leila did great considering that she was low on sleep and high on activity! Christmas Eve both mine and Cory’s families came over for some snacks before we all headed off to church. Church was very good, as it always is on Christmas Eve…a wonderful service to really pull to the front of your mind the reason for the celebration. Leila got some great toys and clothes from Cory’s parents and sister Donna and was off to bed at about 9:30…an hour and a half past her normal bed time. Christmas morning came and after breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Coobs we all headed off to Lowden for our Howard family Christmas morning, where Leila got a bunch more toys and clothes and spent the day getting constant attention from her loving family. Here are some pictures from the events…

Me, Cory and Leila before Church

Leila’s special gift from Grandpa Howard…a homemade rocking horse!

Leila taking a Christmas snooze with her new train under the Christmas tree

And last but not least…Leila in her Christmas outfit from Aunt Donna, sitting in her new kiddie couch.

"We are not put on this earth for ourselves, but are placed here for each other. If you are always there for others, then in time of need, someone will be there for you.
-- Jeff Warner

"What I want to say to you is that sometimes life catches you by surprise and you feel unequipped to handle what it brings you, but every bit of life you've lived before that moment equips you to live through it. That's what I would give to you."
-Fanni Victoria Green-Lemons (talking to her daughter)

If there is any secret to this life I live, this is it: the sound of what cannot be seen sings within everything that can, there is nothing more to it than that.

"The most important thing she'd learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."
-Jill Churchhill